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Tuesday, 12 November 2013

The Defence
Acquisition Council under the Ministry of Defence today decided to postpone the
purchase of new set of “Barak missiles’ meant for Indian naval warships.

It was decided to
get the proposal examined by an independent group within the MoD. The purchase
of Israeli Barak missiles had been pending for some time because of allegations
of corruption by the company in 2006.

The issue was
referred to the Attorney General who advised the the MoD to take its own call.
The Navy needs the missiles as its numbers have dwindled.

Separately, the
MoD has decided to hear copter- maker AgustaWestland’s version on alleged
corruption in Rs 3,500-crore VVIP copter deal. A show-cause notice had been
issued to the company on October 21.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131112/edit.htm#2

Joint commands

Need for greater
synergy in the armed forces

In an era when
warfare is getting more sophisticated and complex with the ongoing revolution
in military technology, there is need for greater synergy. It therefore makes
sense for the Indian armed forces to move towards establishing joint commands.
In a latest proposal that has been under discussion for some years now, the
three services have proposed the setting up of three altogether new joint
commands which would be headed by each of the three services. The proposed
commands are the Special Forces Command, the Cyber Command and the Aerospace
Command which will involve the merger of assets of the three services and will
be headed by a Lt General rank officer belonging, respectively, to the Army,
the Navy and the Air Force.

The rationale
behind a Special Forces Command is because all three services have their
respective commando units and, to a large extent, share the same equipment and
yet have separate training institutes. There are some differences, however. For
example, Chariot warfare is unique to the Marine Commandos just as high
altitude high opening and high altitude low opening parachute manoeuvres are
unique to the Army Special Forces. However, a combined Special Forces Command
could result in a better appreciation of a situation and therefore better employment
of Special Forces resources considering that each situation could be different
and may need expertise that the other service has. Then again, both the
Aerospace Command and the Cyber Command would be in keeping with these new
dimensions, i.e. space and cyber that have become a full-fledged integral part
of future warfare.

The government
needs to, in fact, consider merging the existing operational commands of the
three services and form tri-service Theatre Commands. This means that instead
of having four Army commands, two Air Force commands and one Naval command on
the western front vis-a-vis Pakistan, it may be a better idea for the country
to have one consolidated Western Theatre Command. The government could
similarly consider doing the same on other fronts such as on the eastern,
northern, southern or Indian Ocean fronts. The specifics would require
intensive debate. There is no doubt that the need to evolve more jointness and
synergy between the three services is long overdue.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131112/main2.htm

On Kashmir, Pak
dumps Mush plan, backs plebiscite

Azhar Qadri/TNS

Srinagar, November
11

A Kashmiri
separatist leader who met a top adviser of Pakistani Prime Minister in New
Delhi on Sunday said she sensed a change in policy of the new government in
Islamabad, which “admitted” to her that former Pakistan President Pervez
Musharraf’s policy on the region was a “mistake”.

Andrabi, the only
woman among the Kashmiri separatist leaders who met Aziz, said she shared her
“concerns” with Sharif’s adviser.

“We have taken a decision that
we will stand for the right to self-determination, nothing less than that… we
ensure you we are with you,” Andrabi quoted Aziz as telling her during the
meeting. Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir,
Dukhtaran-e-Millat’s general secretary Nahida Nasreen and Andrabi’s close aide
Fehmeeda Sofi were also present at the meeting.

Andrabi said Sharif’s advisor
“admitted” that Musharraf’s policy, which was amajor change in Pakistan’s
traditional approach on Kashmir, was a “mistake”.

Ahead of the
crucial meeting, Khurshid was quoted as saying in an interview to an Australian
newspaper that the new government in Islamabad was grappling with a very
difficult situation. ''Our view is that we should give them time and benefit of
doubt but not at our cost," he added.

Khurshid also did
not appear hopeful in terms of deliverables from his meeting with Aziz. ''If
you look at the ground reality and you look at the result of our meetings, it
is very disappointing. Particularly in recent times, meetings have been somewhat
disappointing if not counter-productive," he said.

Khurshid said
India would be able to say there was "adequate evidence" of
Pakistan's intent to move forward on bilateral ties if it was "able to
address the issue of dismantling of terrorist infrastructure that is targeted
at India" and "some accountability is shown on what happened in
Mumbai (26/11 terror attack) through the legal proceedings that are under
way".

Tomorrow's talks
between Khurshid and Aziz will be the first high-level contact between India
and Pakistan after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Pakistani counterpart
Nawaz Sharif in New York in September on the fringes of the UN General
Assembly. Hours after his arrival here yesterday, Aziz held separate talks with
various Kashmiri separatist leaders, which angered India.

Khurshid to meet
Aziz today

Amid strain in
ties with Islamabad, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will meet
Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Tuesday
evening on the margins of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Gurgaon. This will
the first high-level contact between India and Pakistan after Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York in
September on the fringes of the UN General Assembly

NEW DELHI — The
Israeli-built Spike anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) is back on the Indian Army’s
acquisition agenda. The potential purchase of the missile arose during a Nov.
11 meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), which likely will take up
the issue again when it meets later this month, an Indian Defence Ministry
source said.

The purchase of
the Spike was put on hold in April as it was a single-vendor procurement from
Israeli company Rafael. But the Indian Army is in a hurry to get advanced
ATGMs.

The renewed
interest in the Spike is unlikely to affect a US proposal to jointly produce
the Javelin ATGM with India, the Defence Ministry source said, because the Army
needs more than 20,000 advanced ATGMs. The Spike, if purchased, will be
vehicle-mounted, the source said, while the Javelin will be man-portable.

The Army currently
depends on Konkurs M and Milan ATGMs, which are less than 2,000 meters in
range.

The Indian Army’s
2010 request for proposals (RfPs) for advanced ATGMs went to Rafael,
Paris-based MBDA, US companies Raytheon and General Dynamics and Russia’s
Rosoboronoexport. Only Rafael responded to the tender; the other companies
balked at India’s technology-transfer requirements.

The Indian Army
now proposes to buy third-generation Spike ATGM systems including 321 missile
launchers, 8,356 missiles and 15 training simulators and associated
accessories, along with transfer of technology. The Army would mount the Spikes
on its Russian-made BMP-2 infantry combat vehicles.

US Deputy Defence
Secretary Ash Carter formally proposed the joint development of the Javelin
during a September visit to India. The Americans have agreed to sell about
6,000 man-portable Javelins to India within six to eight months of a contract
signing, and for future needs the US can explore co-production of the missile
and later work on the co-development of an ATGM tailored for India. The
Americans have also agreed to transfer technology including the special process
for manufacturing the Javelin’s warhead, rocket motor, propellant, guidance and
seeker, but no algorithms for guidance, which an Indian Army official said is
the core to any guidance system.

A team from
Raytheon and Lockheed Martin has already briefed Defence Ministry officials on
the possibilities of joint development of the Javelin.

The Congress has complained to President
Pranab Mukherjee against BJP's Madhya Pradesh unit for using a photograph
showing Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs jointly paying homage to coffins of
armymen in an advertisement issued in local dailies on November 9.

Allegedly, the
advertisement also narrated "wrong" facts about the situation on the
border and using such photographs for political purposes is unprecedented in
the political history of the country, MP State Congress joint spokesman Pankaj
Chaturvedi said in a statement here today.

Chaturvedi urged
the President to take cognisance of the matter and take action in his capacity
as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. He also urged the President to
ensure a ban on the use of such photographs, to serve political interests and
take action against those involved in it.

The advertisement
also presented "wrong" facts about the situation on the border, which
amounts to "misleading" the electorate, he alleged.

The Indian Army
has moved a step closer to the battlefield of the future, where command
networks know the precise location of every soldier and weapon, with whom
generals can exchange reports, photos, data and verbal and written
communications.

On Monday, Army
headquarters called in 14 Indian companies and issued them an expression of
interest (EoI) for developing a Battlefield Management System (BMS). The BMS
will integrate combat units — armoured, artillery and infantry regiments,
infantry battalions, helicopter flights, etc — into a digital network that will
link together all components of the future battlefield.

While precise
costs are still unclear, vendors competing for the contract say the army
expects to pay about Rs 40,000 crore for developing and manufacturing the BMS.
This includes the software architecture and the hardware that will link
together every component of some 500 combat units, each having between 500 and
900 soldiers.

The BMS
acquisition is being pursued as a “Make” contract under the Defence Procurement
Policy of 2013 (DPP-2013). The vendors will respond to the EoI with a detailed
proposal, based on which the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will shortlist two
vendors or consortia as “development agencies” or DAs.

The MoD will pick
up 80 per cent of the development bill for both DAs to build prototypes of the
BMS. The winning design will form the basis of the system.

The army’s
directorate general of information systems (DGIS) is overseeing the planned
shift from a twentieth century to a twenty-first century battlefield. The
communications backbone of the new digital architecture will be the Tactical
Communications System (TCS), which is being pursued separately as India’s first
“Make” project.

In addition, the
army is working on a Command Information and Decision Support System (CIDSS)
that allows commanders to control the battle; a Battlefield Support System
(BSS) to manage artillery units; and an Air Defence Control & Reporting System
(ADC&RS) that will control airspace.

The BMS will link
these overarching systems to the cutting edge — the combat soldier on the front
line. Each soldier and combat platform (tank, helicopter, jeep) will be a
separate digital entity, whose location and state of combat readiness will be
available to higher commanders.

The BMS will also
allow the sharing of inputs from a range of sensors in combat units, including
seismic sensors, battlefield surveillance radars, long range optical sensors
and thermal imaging devices.

The full rollout
of the proposed digital network will enable a divisional or corps commander to
talk directly to, and receive images from, a soldier in the trenches or a tank
on the front. “This is all about situational awareness,” explains a serving
general who terms it “Blue Force Tracking”.

Vendors have been
given four months to form consortia, engage technology partners (who may be
foreign companies), frame their proposals, and submit detailed proposals. Those
will be evaluated by an Integrated Project Management Team (IPMT), which will
then select two DAs.

The EoI enjoins
the DAs to develop four “test beds”, or configurations of the BMS. These are
for (a) armoured units; (b) mechanised infantry units; (c) infantry units in
mountains, and (d) infantry units in jungle terrain.

The EoI specifies
that 30 per cent of the weight in selecting a DA will go to the amount and
level of R&D that a vendor will put into the BMS.

Another 30 per
cent will rest on the amount of indigenous content that the BMS will contain.

New Delhi: Former
Army Chief Gen VK Singh, who has courted controversy over secret military
intelligence unit Technical Support Division on Monday slammed its winding up,
saying people "inimical" to India's security would be happy.

Justifying
creation of the specialised snooping unit, he said if it had not been
disbanded, it would have been helpful in preventing a number of things
happening on the border.

"I think the
people who would be most happy with it being wound up, it would be people who
are inimical to India's national security," Singh told PTI in an
interview.

He was responding
to a question whether he agreed with the criticism of the unit which was
reportedly accused of undertaking some nefarious activities, such as snooping
of Defence Ministry officials and attempt to destabilise Jammu and Kashmir
government.

The unit was set
up during Gen VK Singh's tenure as Army Chief between April 2010 and May last
year. It was wound up soon after his retirement.

It was scrapped
after a high-level committee headed by Director General Military Operations Lt
Gen Vinod Bhatia recommended so along with a CBI inquiry into its activities.

"If TSD had
not been wound up, a lot of things that are happening on the border, would not
have happened," Gen Singh asserted. He, however, did not elaborate.

Commenting on
allegations that the TSD was trying to destabilise the Jammu and Kashmir
government, he said these comments are "laughable. If someone can write in
a report that one crore was meant to destabilise the state government, that
person does not have any brains."

During the
interview, the former Army Chief spoke about a number of other issues like his
age controversy which had reached the Supreme Court, his allegations about
attempt to bribe him to clear purchase of Tatra trucks and accusations against
him for attempting coup in January last year.

In his
autobiography 'Courage and Convictions', Gen VK Singh has stated that the
recommendation for raising the secret military intelligence unit was made by
National Security Adviser to hit back at Pakistan after the 26/11 attacks in
Mumbai in 2008.

On allegations
that the unit was involved in some unwanted activities, the former Army Chief
said, "A lie has many friends and truth has none...I have just said that
people who will be very happy is the people who harm national interest."

Singh claims in
the book that the NSA had asked then Army Chief Deepak Kapoor if the Army could
create an organisation with covert capability to hit back at Pakistan but
Kapoor was not receptive to the project.

The proposal was
then made to him by the then Director General Military Intelligence Lt Gen RK
Loomba, he writes in the book.

The intent was to
increase the scope of the proposed intelligence unit to have tentacles in
neighbouring countries and surrounding areas, the book says.

The unit has been
mired in controversy after allegations were levelled against it that it was
involved in snooping the telephones of important officers in the Defence
Ministry and carrying out unauthorised operations in Jammu and Kashmir against
the state government there.

NEW DELHI: The
Army may take up the issue of a photograph of Army chief gen Bikram Singh used
on a BJP poll poster in Madhya Pradesh with the Election Commission.

The photograph
showed Gen Bikram Singh saluting martyrs in Jammu.

The Army is
thinking of taking up the issue with the Election Commission through proper
channel, Army sources said here.

They, however,
said a final decision in this regard would be taken at a higher level in the
Army Headquarters as it involves two major national political parties.

The Congress had
on Sunday sought derecognition of BJP in the wake of "provocative"
advertisement issued by it in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, where the national
flag and the photo of the Army chief were "misused".

Party spokesman
Meem Afzal had said the AICC has approached the Election Commission over the
advertisement which sends a "negative" image of the Congress.

The complaint was
against Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state BJP chief
Narendra Singh Tomar. He alleged that the BJP was seeking to drag the Army
chief in politics by using his photo.

The
Jamaat-e-Islami on Monday formally responded to ISPR’s statement and clarified
its position over party chief Syed Munawar Hassan’s controversial remarks,
saying that Pakistan army is not entitled to directly involve in political
affairs.

Speaking to media
representatives after a meeting of the party’s Majlis-i-Shura (Supreme
Council), General Secretary of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Liaqat Baloch said his
party has rendered sacrifices to safeguard ideological as well as geographical
boundaries of the country and has always acknowledged Pak Army’s sacrifices.

On Sunday, JI
chief Syed Munawar Hasan’s recent controversial statements of giving the
certificate of martyrdom to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakeemullah
Mehsud and deriding military personnel who have rendered sacrifices in the war
against terrorists, drew strong ire of the army which asked the JI chief to
tender an unconditional apology.

Liaqat Baloch said
that Pakistan Army should not get involved in political affairs directly,
adding that ISPR’s statement, in which the army asked Syed Munawar Hassan to
apologize to the nation, is a political statement which the military should
have avoided.

“The nation is being involved
in unnecessary debates,” said Liaqat Baloch who did not respond to reporters’
questions in his brief chat with the media.

The JI leader said his party
leadership reviewed in the meeting the situation arising out of Syed Munawar
Hassan’s statement.

In his remarks he issued in a
TV talkshow last week, the JI chief had declared the killing of ruthless
Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in missile strike as ‘martyrdom’, stating that
Pakistan army soldiers who have rendered sacrifices in the ongoing fight could
not be called ‘martyrs’ for their cooperation with the US.

The statement drew strong ire
of the army which asked him to tender unconditional apology. Various political
parties, including the PPP, ANP and ANP, condemned the JI’s remarks urging him
to take his words back.

ISPR in a statement condemned
the remarks as ‘irresponsible’ and ‘misleading’, saying that declaring the dead
terrorists as shaheeds is insult of the shahadat of thousands of innocent
Pakistanis and soldiers of Pakistan's armed forces.

During the Majlis-i-Shura
meeting, Baloch said the country would have to get out of the drone war in
order to establish sustainable peace.

He further said that martyrdom
was a dignified rank which could only be conferred by “none other than Allah”.